Current networking and computing technology facilitates the electronic collaboration of multiple individuals who may be globally dispersed (i.e., located at different geographic locations). Examples of such electronic collaboration sessions include web conferences, Internet conference calls, net meetings, etc. Such electronic collaboration sessions allow geographically dispersed people to meet and interact in real time using various computing devices. This can lead to improved communication and efficiency in virtually any setting.
However, there are several common occurrences that reduce the optimization of effective communication and collaboration when utilizing these electronic collaboration sessions. One such occurrence is a dropped network connection to the electronic collaboration session by one, many, or all of the users. When a user's network connection is dropped, the communication between that user and the remaining users of the electronic collaboration session is stopped.
In the case of an individual user whose network connection is dropped, the user typically attempts to manually re-connect to the electronic collaboration session as soon as possible. If the user is able to re-connect, the user is faced with the problem of having missed information that was discussed while the user was disconnected. In such cases, the user may interrupt the others and ask what information was missed; however, this is bothersome to and inefficient for the other users who were not disconnected.
Another option for a re-connected user is to attempt to make sense of what was missed by quickly reviewing any available shared resources of the electronic collaboration session. In this case, however, the re-connected user's attention is diverted from the real time happenings of the electronic collaboration session while the user tries to “catch up” to the others. A third option for the reconnected user is to just ignore what material was missed. This, however, presents a clear disadvantage of missing potentially important information.
Other connectivity problems associated with electronic collaboration sessions affect multiple users, instead of the situation of an individual dropped user described above. For example, the host of the electronic collaboration session may experience a network connectivity problem, in which all users are dropped from the event. Also, there may be more users attempting to join the event than the host system has resources for, in which case multiple users cannot participate in the electronic collaboration session. Such problems are frustrating for all those involved, and can quickly diminish the effectiveness of an electronic collaboration session.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.